#green berets

[thafreedomwall]

[shihlun]

A rare glimpse into Cold War-era Taiwan, these 1969 photographs capture members of the US Army 1st Special Forces Group (Green Berets) engaging with the local community in Meilin, Douliu (雲林斗六梅林). Likely taken during the joint Exercise Forward Thrust (前鋒演習), the images show soldiers chatting outside a village storefront—identified near the Meilin Police Station (梅林派出所)—and presenting gifts to a local child. These moments highlight the "Civic Action" programs integral to Special Forces training at the time, fostering goodwill between American troops and Taiwanese civilians near the strategic Meilin military base.

Exercise Forward Thrust was part of a broader strategic effort to professionalize the Taiwanese Army Special Forces based on the US Army's counter-insurgency doctrine. The interaction seen in the photos was a deliberate part of PSYOPS (Psychological Operations) and Civic Action training, aimed at securing the support of the rural populace in a hypothetical conflict zone.

[sgtgrunt0331-3]

America's Response Monument, subtitled De Oppresso Liber, is a life-and-a-half scale bronze statue in Liberty Park overlooking the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City.

Unofficially known as the "Horse Soldier Statue" it is the first publicly accessible monument dedicated to the United States Army Special Forces. It was also the first monument near Ground Zero to recognize heroes of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

[headlesssamurai]

‘‘We're doing what you want! And we're probably all gonna die screaming because of it!’’

//primitive_war/

//dir_luke_sparke/

[gijoe-forever]

[silveragelovechild]

Primitive War - the worst movie this year?

I think I may have come across the worst movie this year - Primitive War, from Australia. The warning sign was that my local theater was showing it only one time a day…. But I bought a ticket anyway.

The story is set in 1968, involving soldiers who come across deadly dinosaurs in the jungles of Vietnam. I’ve always thought the plots of the Jurassic movies were too narrow and repetitive - always set in an amusement park or its research labs. I thought Primitive War might offer something new.

The setup is that a team of Green Berets completely disappears when they are on a top-secret mission. A reconnaissance team is sent in to find out what happened to those missing “Fighting soldiers from the sky, Fearless men who jump and die”.

The team is led by Australian actor Ryan Kwanten, who barely looks older than when he was in “True Blood” nearly 20 years ago.

The action starts off quickly, within minutes of arriving at their top-secret destination. The soldiers hear weird sounds in the jungle and find large bird-like prints in the dirt.

One soldier is complaining about something or another when an eight-foot-tall dinosaur rises silently from the bushes behind him, opens its mouth, and bites his head off.

The scene went by so quickly that I couldn’t believe what I saw. It wasn’t scary. It didn’t look real. It reminded me of that old SNL skit about the Land Shark that knocks on people’s doors.

The other soldiers didn’t notice the Dino and continued looking for “The brave men of the Green Beret”. They all decided to enter a narrow dark cave where the camera reveals some cute, small dinosaurs waiting to attack.

At this point, I realized Primitive War was an unintended, cheaply made comedy, not an action movie. So I left just in time to get a refund.

Be sure to watch the trailer to the end for the shot of Larry Curley and Moe!

[thafreedomwall]

[taraross-1787]

Medal of Honor Monday: Charles "Snake" Hosking, Jr.

On this day in 1924, a hero is born. Charles “Snake” Hosking, Jr. would go on to become a Green Beret, earning the Medal of Honor while serving in Vietnam.

He didn’t start out as a Green Beret. Instead, he began as a high school dropout. As a 16-year-old, he was determined to serve in World War II, but his parents weren’t ready for him to leave school. He left anyway, hitchhiking to Canada and joining the Canadian Army.

Naturally, his age was soon discovered, and he was forced to return to the States.  Maybe you won’t be surprised to hear that he dropped out of high school again?

FULL STORY: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-charles-hosking-moh